stripe elements and pwyc subscription

[Vandivier]

"pay what you want" doesn't support subscription mode smh

https://stripe.com/docs/payments/checkout/pay-what-you-want

maybe i should go ahead and set up api (lower conversion but iirc

or Stripe Elements that would be a form on my page and would it improve my ability to bind stripe to the user

https://stripe.com/newsroom/news/payments-revenue-uplift

not clear to me if stripe elements outperforms stripe checkout or not

anyway as a mature business we won't be sending people to stripe.com so ig we will bite the bullet at some point

[Vandivier]

we should do this before teachable migration email blast

[Vandivier]

got the idea to ask Claude 2 (https://claude.ai/) and it gave the below answer which seems good to me, lmk if there's an issue:

Here are a few suggestions for implementing a high-converting pay-what-you-want subscription model with Stripe:
Use Stripe Checkout for the initial payment. This provides a smooth and optimized payment flow out of the box. You can configure Checkout to allow customers to select their own price.
For recurring payments, use Stripe Billing with custom pricing plans. Define a pay-what-you-want pricing plan in Stripe Billing and subscribe customers to it after their initial Checkout payment.
In your pricing plan configuration, set the "aggregate_usage" billing scheme. This will allow customers to pay whatever amount they want each billing cycle while keeping them subscribed to the same plan.
Use Stripe Elements (prebuilt UI components) in your billing portal / account page to allow subscribers to easily update their payment method and billing amount each cycle.
Consider adding tiers or suggested amounts to provide guidance while still allowing full customization. e.g. "Supporter - $10", "Advocate - $25", "Champion - $50+".
Be transparent about how the funds will be used. Build trust by communicating the value customers get from supporting your product.
The key is combining the conversion optimization of Checkout with the flexibility of Billing and Elements for recurring, variable payments. Start with Checkout then build on top of that to create a great subscriber experience.

[Vandivier]

related #63

[Vandivier]

For recurring payments, use Stripe Billing with custom pricing plans. Define a pay-what-you-want pricing plan in Stripe Billing and subscribe customers to it after their initial Checkout payment.

i didn't see a way to do this in the stripe dashboard for customers that paid with a third party ie apple pay, which is the vast majority of my customers. i saw a way to subscribe customers with a card on file, but that's almost no one

there does appear to be a way to create a subscription invoice and email the invoice to the user who will then pay it. i'll give this a try. hopefully i don't have to email ppl to pay every month so hopefully if they pay once it sets up the subscription ongoing

[Vandivier]

related https://stripe.com/billing/pricing

[Vandivier]

a few options:

1. full custom checkout (ick)
2. full prebuilt checkout (lose pwyc OR subscription abilities; in any case, ick)
3. pwyc checkout with follow-up invoice (this could work but it seems frictionful/bad UX/low conversion and more work for me to make sure payments convert)
4. stripe prebuilt checkouts with ladderly-side routing. basically on the stripe side there are many products (1-29 for pwyc tier) and none of them are pay what you want from stripe POV, but on ladderly side you pick the amount to pay and i route you appropriately for prebuilt checkout. this seems fairly good but maybe not optimal compared to 5 bc we are changing URLs and face account linking difficulty still on the ladderly side
5. stripe elements might let me solve the recurring issue and also the unbounded premium-pwyc issue by making a product just-in-time; it could also make account binding faster, automated more accurate, and make the hall of fame more real time